'Jafar Panahi Triumphs with One Victory After Another' at Gotham Awards

NEW YORK Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film, "One Battle After Another", was named Best Feature Film, while Iranian director Jafar Panahi took home three awards at the 35th annual Gotham Awards on Monday, marking a glittering start to the film industry's awards season. Hosted by the Gotham Film & Media Institute, the ceremony is not typically a predictor of the Oscars but is celebrated for honoring smaller, distinctive films alongside larger studio productions.

The event took place at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan, known for blending black-tie glamour with a focus on independent cinema. This year, "One Battle After Another", a high-budget father-daughter story of multigenerational protest, broke new ground at the Gothams with its estimated $130 million production cost. Previous winners have usually been lower-budget indie films like Past Lives, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and the unexpected 2024 winner, A Different Man.

I didnt expect this, actually, Anderson said while accepting the award. I started to think I didnt know what was going on. Thank you very much, everybody. Lets go home or lets go to a bar somewhere or something.

The Gotham Awards are known for their unpredictability, with small juries selecting nominees and winners, often leading to surprising outcomes. Notably, both acting winners were absent from the ceremony. Sop Drs won Best Lead Performance for the British-Nigerian drama My Fathers Shadow, with director Akinola Davies Jr. accepting the award. Davies also won Breakthrough Director. Other nominees included Jessie Buckley, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ethan Hawke. Best Supporting Performance went to Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners, with director Ryan Coogler accepting on her behalf.

Panahi's film It Was Just an Accident earned him three awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Film. Earlier, his attorney Mostafa Nili reported that Panahi had been sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year travel ban. Panahi had previously been jailed for months before making the film and was released after a hunger strike. Despite being restricted from filmmaking and travel in 2010, he continued creating films without government approval. In May, It Was Just an Accident won the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival.

I would like to dedicate the honor of this award to independent filmmakers in Iran and around the world, Panahi said while accepting the screenplay award. Filmmakers who keep the camera rolling in silence without support and, at times, risking everything they have, only with their faith in truth and humanity.

Other winners included Harry Lighton for Adapted Screenplay (Pillion), Abou Sangar for Breakthrough Performer (Souleymanes Story), and Julia Loktevs documentary My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 Last Air in Moscow. Tribute awards honored Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein), Scott Cooper (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere), Tessa Thompson (Hedda), Noah Baumbach (Jay Kelly), the cast of Sinners, Luca Guadagnino and Julia Roberts (After the Hunt), and Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue).

This is a time for all of us to remember what unites us and what brings us together, said Jackman. And that is awards season, everybody.

Author: Sophia Brooks